M30-34: Adam Hughes Runs Away from the Field in Huntsville

• Adam Hughes won the M30-34 group in 1:32:28 (7:03/mi), finishing 6 minutes 10 seconds ahead of runner-up Nicholas Jensen.
• Nicholas Jensen (1:34:38) and Joseph Pongetti (1:38:17) rounded out the podium, with Jensen holding 2nd by nearly four minutes over Pongetti.
• Places 4–6 were a genuine scrum: Andrew Maddox (1:41:04), Paul Chaney (1:41:07), and Andrew OBrien (1:41:21) were separated by just 17 seconds across three spots.
• Justin Hirtle and Cody Fincher finished 7th and 8th in 1:44:36 and 1:44:45 respectively — nine seconds apart after 13.1 miles.

Adam Hughes made the M30-34 race look like a time trial. The 32-year-old from Ann Arbor crossed in 1:32:28 at 7:03 per mile, a margin so commanding that second place was never really in doubt once the back half of the course arrived. His 8M-to-finish split ranked 29th among men in the broader field — a strong close that confirmed the win was built on sustained pace, not an early bluff.

Nicholas Jensen (Austin, TX) ran a composed 1:34:38 to claim 2nd, holding his men's position steady through the final stretch. Joseph Pongetti (Jackson, MS) took 3rd in 1:38:17 — nearly four minutes back from Jensen but well clear of the traffic jam forming just behind him.

That traffic jam was real. Andrew Maddox actually moved up in the men's field over the second half of the race, climbing from 46th to 40th among men to edge Paul Chaney by three seconds for 4th. Chaney (1:41:07) and Andrew OBrien (1:41:21) were right on his heels, the three of them packed into a 17-second window at the line. In a 59-finisher M30-34 field, those three spots were decided by fractions of effort on a cool, overcast Huntsville morning.

Further back, Hirtle and Fincher ran practically in lockstep — nine seconds across 13.1 miles — to claim 7th and 8th, with Bradley Henderson (1:45:57) and local runner Dominic Hughes (1:46:39) closing out the top ten.